Government systems are in chaos, says Kenny

The Fine Gael leader, Mr Enda Kenny, has launched an attack on the record of the Fianna Fáil-PD coalition, claiming that the systems of Government are in a state of chaos.

Addressing party supporters at the annual Young Fine Gael conference in Ennis on Saturday, Mr Kenny said that, thanks to the current Government, public policy is now utterly disconnected from the lives people are living

He said: "That is because Fianna Fáil and the PDs have conspired to give us monumental Government - task forces, review bodies, commissions, committees, studies, quangos and, of course, reports."

Fianna Fáil and the PDs have served up "Government of the infernal machine always going head to head with the individual, conspiring against the person, always delaying and extending the exclusion zone that they have made of Government, politics and public life in this country," he added.

"We know that things are wrong, our systems of government are in chaos. Our hospitals wouldn't be at all out of place in Prague, we queue and wait endlessly for everything - especially everything that involves the heavy hand of the State."

The Fine Gael leader said that he wants a healthy Ireland "where our healthcare is based on the patient - the person - not the system; an Ireland where a top-class education is a basic civil right, not the privilege of parenting or class, and an Ireland where planning is led by the Government, not by developers".

Outlining his vision, Mr Kenny said: "I want to recreate politics in the public heart and imagination as a real entity - a real entity with real values that works for real people that can make real change." Commenting on the decline in voter turnout in general elections, he said many people feel utterly disconnected from politics and believe that politics can change nothing.

In his address to the conference, Young Fine Gael president, Mr Gerry O'Connell, told delegates that "the Government is presiding over the closing down of rural Ireland".

He said: "The brightest and best generation ever to be produced in the history of this State is being bled from rural Ireland. It is an absolute disgrace."

Mr O'Connell told delegates that when the Government presides over the taking away of the local post office or local hospital, it takes away the soul of the people.

Earlier at the conference, Young Fine Gael clashed with party justice spokesman, Mr John Deasy TD, by calling for a relaxation of laws aimed at cutting down on youth alcohol consumption. In a debate on the motion calling for restoration of late drinking hours on Thursdays and the reversal of the ban of under-18s on licensed premises after 9 p.m., a delegate, Mr John Carroll, said that "there would be no tangible benefit by cutting back pub hours on Thursdays as supported by Michael McDowell, John Deasy and their friends on the right".

The conference also passed a motion calling on the Government to place a 5 per cent levy on the purchase of all alcoholic products to provide for a "ring-fenced fighting fund" to finance and subsidise social facilities and events free from alcohol. Mr O'Connell said that the fund could raise up to €35 million per annum.

The conference also passed a motion calling on the Government "to provide an amnesty for immigrants, refugees and asylum-seekers that have settled and made a new life in Ireland".

Tabled by Cuban-born Ms Dialena Ledesma, she told members: "I know many people who have suffered who have gone on to make a life in Ireland where they are putting children through school and they want to contribute to Irish society. They should be allowed to remain and become full members of Irish society."